Brick— Rian Johnson’s feature-length directorial debut showcases the writer/director’s strong hand for executing on a vision that both understands and plays with form. Inspired by noir mystery movies, Brick has all the trappings of hardboiled detective stories, from specific dialogue to character archetypes, but it all takes place among a group of high schoolers. Watch for a great understanding of Johnson’s later expertise when it comes to unfolding story and employing clever filmmaking.
Available for rent/purchase on Amazon.

The Brothers Bloom — Johnson’s second film is a confident sleight of hand trick that left us in breathless awe as the credits rolled. The cast’s chemistry is infectious — watching Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, and Rinko Kikuchi travel around the globe in search of the perfect con is mesmerizing. The script is consistently clever without ever being smug, and contains a beating heart that makes us genuinely care about the fate of these characters. And like all great films, you’ll immediately want to watch it again with the added context of the fantastic twists and turns of the third act. —Marty Sliva
Available for rent/purchase on Amazon, iTunes, and more services.

Proving to Hollywood that Johnson could work with bigger stars and a bigger budget, Looper is another clear authorial statement from Johnson. The script is so precise in its fleshing out of Looper’s time travel rules, keeping things smart but never too complex as to become incomprehensible. Instead, Johnson marries his wild ideas with a world that feels lived in, as Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Joe, a looper who carries out murders via time travel, is forced with the possibility of killing his older self. Johnson embraces the oddities and pitfalls of time travel to create something original, fun, and funny the whole way through.
Available to stream on FX Now, and to rent/purchase on Amazon, iTunes, and more video services.

Breaking Bad: "Fly" — Johnson’s first go at an episode of Breaking Bad is also one of its most polarizing (sound familiar?), with the episode having received critical praise at the time of its airing while some fans have derided it for its pacing. But outside of its place in the Breaking Bad ongoing plot, the episode is an extraordinary example of how special a bottle episode of TV can be. It also served as a strong sign Johnson could enter an established world and not only leave his mark on it but also play within its rules. The low-fi but smartly directed episode transforms a simple, bizarre bonding experience into a key moment of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman's relationship.
Streaming on Netflix.

Breaking Bad: "Ozymandias" — Some have argued it’s one of, if not the, greatest episodes of television ever produced. While we don’t want to spoil the late, vital episode of Breaking Bad incase you haven’t seen it (Seriously, make some time to!), but “Ozymandias” is a masterclass in storytelling. The tense, unexpected, and beautifully shot climax to much of Breaking Bad’s plot, “Ozymandias” is key to Johnson’s filmography. It shows how he not only could play in another creator’s sandbox, as he does with The Last Jedi, but how he could take that material and give it such weight, scale, and meaning. “Fly” is excellent for its understanding of the bottle episode and the nature of “episodes” in telling an ongoing story. “Ozymandias” is excellent because it is a sheer, unrelenting, and effecting hour of storytelling.
Streaming on Netflix.

Rian Johnson Movies and Shows to Watch After The Last Jedi

12/20/2017

Brick— Rian Johnson’s feature-length directorial debut showcases the writer/director’s strong hand for executing on a vision that both understands and plays with form. Inspired by noir mystery movies, Brick has all the trappings of hardboiled detective stories, from specific dialogue to character archetypes, but it all takes place among a group of high schoolers. Watch for a great understanding of Johnson’s later expertise when it comes to unfolding story and employing clever filmmaking. Available for rent/purchase on Amazon.